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Tweet-tracker
To see the very latest results from Spectrum's Spin-tweet dashboard, click here.
Brown and Labour Fight Back on twitter Popularity - Summary to 17 January 2010
Gordon Brown has gained considerable ground on David Cameron in his weekly popularity on twitter. Brown's popularity increased by 1.29% over the past week (to 17 January 2010), while Cameron's fell by 0.88% and Nick Clegg's by 0.79%. Labour has also gained on the Tories, the former increasing popularity by 0.86% while the latter decreased by a similar 0.87%. The Lib-Dems fell by a very significant 2.94%.
These figures follow a dismal previous week for Labour when both the Tories and Lib-Dems made great gains following the botched Labour coup. They also reflect a growing upward trend for Gordon Brown whose popularity on twitter has now doubled since the end of December. Despite these encouraging weekly trends, however, Brown ended the week more than 2.5% down on Cameron, on just 1.19% popularity. It therefore remains to be seen whether Brown can sustain his twitter fight-back.
To see the very latest results from Spectrum's Spin-tweet dashboard, click here.
Tweet-tracker Reveals Hourly Insight into Failed Labour Coup
The failed Labour party coup of 6 January, 2010, led by Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt provides a simple but very effective example of how Spectrum's Tweet-tracker can be used to monitor, analyse and track twitter in real-time. Although this example refers to the political scene, exactly the same technique can be used to monitor, analyse and track any twitter coverage, from reaction to a product launch, new advertising campaign or sales promotion to a press announcement or unfolding crisis.
At 12:26 on 6 January, 2010, an email and text messages were sent from Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt to all Labour MPs, calling for a leadership vote as Gordon Brown was on his feet for the first Prime Minister's Questions of election year. Less than one hour later, at 13:00, Spectrum's Tweet-tracker was able to reveal the first mentions of the coup on twitter, which can be seen in the following chart along with a major spike in tweets for Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt.
But while tracking the attempted coup is of interest, the real concern for Gordon Brown and the Labour party was the impact on the Prime Minister's reputation; and, for the other party leaders, whether this would help them in the race for 10 Downing Street. The next chart reveals the impact on Gordon Brown's popularity on twitter, again in real time. It shows how the Prime Minister's popularity actually increased shortly after the plotters' emails and texts were revealed, peaking at 16:00 that afternoon. This was short-lived, however, as Brown's reputation plummeted towards the end of the afternoon before recovering slightly in tweets that evening. By then, however, the damage had been done and David Cameron's popularity can clearly be seen to grow towards the end of the day. But the person who benefited most from tweets on the attempted coup was Lib-Dem leader, Nick Clegg, whose popularity soared before dipping back in mid-afternoon.
This simple example demonstrates the benefits of using Tweet-tracker to capture the views and opinions of consumers, through twitter; and highlights how powerful insight can be gained into the impact of announcements and news as it occurs.
Cameron and Conservatives Increase Popularity on Twitter Following Failed Labour Coup
Spin-Tweet, Spectrum's real-time analysis of consumer tweets on Gordon Brown, David Cameron and Nick Clegg, has revealed a 3.48% increase in popularity for the Tory leader on twitter for the week leading up to 9 January, 2010, while his party, the Conservatives, enjoyed a 4.8% rise over the same period. The Lib-Dems also gained by 4.58% while their leader, Nick Clegg, increased his popularity by 2.67%.
Gordon Brown's popularity increased slightly over the week but the big loser was the Labour party, whose popularity on twitter plummeted by 4.11%. This finding reflects a double blow for the plotters, Geoff Hoon and Patricia Hewitt, with the person they wanted to remove still in office and the Labour party itself taking a hammering as a result of the botched coup.
The most popular issue in twitter related to the party leaders over the week was the NHS, with 29.8% share of voice (SOV), followed by the forthcoming General Election (18.2% SOV) and then the economy (16.6% SOV). Other issues that featured include terrorism (13.0% of tweets), airport security (8.9% of tweets) and extremism (3.8% of tweets), all following discussions over new body scanners to be introduced at UK airports, while the freezing temperatures resulted in 4.0% of tweets discussing UK energy supplies. Another political issue that continues to attract twitter is MPs' expenses, which was covered in 13.2% of tweets.
To see the very latest results from Spectrum's Spin-tweet dashboard, click here.
